The present invention relates to apparatus for filling a plurality of longhorn cheese hoops with curd and then compressing the curd within the hoops until a finished cheese is formed.
The prior art method and apparatus used to make cheese in longhorns or cheese hoops in the quantities envisioned by the invention, generally required a procedure substantially as follows. The cheese hoops which comprise generally perforated stainless steel cylindrical containers are filled and packed by hand by an operator. The hoops are each weighed during the packing operation to insure that the proper amount of curd has been placed in each of the hoops in order to achieve consistency from one hoop to the next. the hoops are then individually lifted onto a cheese press and aligned in horizontal relation end to end between two press members. The hoops mutually engage each other in a telescoping relationship in end to end relation such that the curds within the hoops will be compressed when the hoops are axially compressed. The aligned hoops are placed under pressure by the press members acting on the opposite ends of the line of hoops to force the whey out of the curds and the pressure is maintained until a finished cheese is formed. When the cheese is finished the hoops and cheese are manually removed from the apparatus so that the finished cheese can be stripped from the hoops.